How All Of The Angels Hitters Were Acquired: 2014 Roster Tree

DiPoto has constructed a team that has great power when healthy, and have the best player in baseball in Mike Trout, however a lot of the transactions on offense had nothing to do with the man. As you will see in the Roster Tree, a lot of the guys have been Drafted before the DiPoto era. I will say he has done a better job in the last year, than in his 1st 2 years at the helm. The club has a short window to compete, before a lot of the team becomes older, all making too much money. This is not an article about retracting our earlier stated points, but rather to say that maybe DiPoto is becoming a little wiser as a GM lately. When all is said and done, with the payroll and talent within this team, they should be in contention for a Division Pennant and Post Season every year.

How All Of The Angels Hitters Were Acquired:

Here at the MLB Reports we have taken a hard line at how the Angels have conducted business for the last several years.

From Sully (our lead Audio Personality and creator of “Sullymetrics”), to our ‘chief writer’ Hunter Stokes, to even myself at certain times – we have poured cold water on their efforts in assembling this current team.

I maybe the less culpable of the three, as I did predict this club to win the 2012 World Series, however one thing we all agreed on was Mike Scioscia‘s crazy insistence on batting Raul Ibanez 4th when he was so brutal for the team.

The fact they signed him wasn’t very great either, when Kendrys Morales would have fit the bill perfectly.

Among the observations we had, was criticizing GM Jerry DiPoto for some of his moves since taking over as GM of the club in late 2011.

A litany of poor roster decisions was part of the problem.

The club wasted $16 MIL on Joe Blanton, paid for an injured Reliever in Ryan Madson, who never even pitched for the club.

Josh Hamilton was tearing up the baseball in April before he injured his hand sliding into 1st base in Seattle. Upon returning, the former AL MVP is not hitting with the same kind of authority. His overall numbers are still good, and I believe he has one more good stretch of play. Like Pujols, he signed a huge deal to play with the Halos. Hamilton will earn $25 MIL in 2015, and $32 MIL for both the 2016 and 2017 seasons. The team has to hope for optimum success in this time frame. The 33 Year Old has hit .304/.389/.471 – with 5 HRs and 21 RBI in 2014. Hamilton was inked to a 5 YRs/$133 MIL contract prior to the 2013 campaign.

Again, we also can’t fault DiPoto for the whole Vernon Wells fiasco, of the team paying $70 MIL for his services, and receiving 2 brutal years, before sending him to the Yankees. The club is still paying for that penalty.

Oh yeah.. they also traded away power hitting Mike Napoli in the process, a backstopper who had clubbed 20+ HRs in 3 straight years in limited AB.

This was all to acquire Chris Iannetta, whose numbers have paled in comparison to the departed big RHB.

But all of this being said, his club is playing better for him in 2014.

I wouldn’t say the David Freese for Peter Bourjos deal has been great either, but both of those men have underperformed for their new club.

The Angels are in 1st place because of their recent drafting – and mostly under the regime that proceeded DiPoto.

The Los Angeles franchise will be in cap hell as early as next year, when Hamilton makes $25 MIL, then $32 MIL for both 2016 and 2017, and Pujols receives a $1 MIL raise from $23 – $24 MIL next campaign, and an additional $1 MIL for every season after that until 2021, capping out at a $30 MIL a year contract.

When I talk about the Pitching in an upcoming blog, I will also talk about their team’s inability to find decent relief help, and will give the guy credit for the Tyler Skaggs/Mark Trumbo deal.

The good news is that the club has cut ties with Raul Ibanez, and for the moment has their healthiest roster on the field to compete.

Their best lineup of Trout, Kendrick, Pujols, Hamilton, Calhoun, Cron, Green, Iannetta and Aybar is a nice array of talent, and should be able to mash their way to a lot of victories.

The only thing preventing this team from a playoff spot, could be a couple of injuries..

For those that have never seen one of our Roster Trees, we go over how all of the players were acquired.

It works like 6 degrees of separation. By searching back to the origin of all the way back until a player is signed, drafted or purchased.

It totally gives you an idea on how the franchise has fared.

Albert Pujols signed a 10 YR/$250 MIL contract with the Angels at the age of 31. At that time, he was still one of the best players on the planet. He now has a 3 slash of .269/.330/.479 – with 64 HRs and 219 AB in his 1326 AB for the Angels. His production this year has him on pace for a 30 HR, 90+ RBI campaign. Not becoming of a $24 MIL AAV man – but at least he is healthy, and one of the best producers at 1B currently in the game.

Mike Trout is the best all around player in the game, but he was no actually drafted by DiPoto. His selection was done during the Tony Reagins regime. The CF did sign a 6 YR/$144 MIL extension earlier this year, that will keep him with LAA until 2020. Trout now 22, has an OPS of 1.017 (Leads AL) – with 19 HRs and 62 RBI in 303 AB this season. The speedy OF has only swiped 10 bases this year/ No doubt that if the Angels make the playoffs this year, that this man will be the leading candidate to be the AL MVP – after finishing runner up to Miguel Cabrera in each of the last 2 years.

For all of the Rosters, Depth Charts, State of the Unions and Salaries Posts that we do, please visit our dedicated page link here.

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About chuckbooth3023

I played competitive baseball until 18 years old and had offers to play NCAA Division 1 University Baseball at Liberty University.
Post-concussion symptoms from previous football and baseball head injuries forced me to retire by age 19.
After two nearly made World Record Attempts in 2008, I set a New World Record by visiting all 30 MLB Parks (from 1st to last pitch) in only 24 Calendar Days
in the summer 0f 2009.
In April of 2012, I established yet another new GWR by visiting all 30 Parks in only 23 Calendar Days! You can see the full schedule at the page of the www.mlbreports.com/gwr-tracker .
In 2015, I will be watching at least one game in all 30 MLB Parks for the entire schedule, spanning about 215 - 220 games. Follow that at http://mlbreports.com/183in2015/229sked2015/

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